Trump reverses course on working with Russia on cybersecurity

About 12 hours after tweeting about possibly working with President Vladimir Putin and Russia on cybersecurity, President Donald Trump tweeted that he does not expect it to actually happen.

“The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t-but a ceasefire can,& did!,” the president tweeted Sunday night, referencing a cease-fire that was negotiated for part of Syria. As of Sunday night, the ceasefire was still in place.

Trump did not explain his rapid-fire flip-flop.

Earlier Sunday, amid a flurry of tweets related to the G-20 summit in Germany, Trump had said: “Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.. …and safe.”

Trump’s suggestion that he would work with Russia was met with widespread skepticism, including by suggestions that it was akin to hiring a burglar who had broken into your house as your security guard.

Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara on Twitter criticized a statement Steven Mnuchin made Sunday morning, in which the Treasury secretary called the Cyber Security Unit a “very significant accomplishment” for Trump.

“Oops. @realDonaldTrump just tweeted that the super-duper Impenetrable Cyber Security Unit “can’t” happen, but he appreciates your loyalty,” he wrote on Twitter.